Names (and what they can mean)
by rex1011amit
Summary: Eri needs a last name. Naturally, this gives Aizawa a dilemma. Cross-posted on AO3, seventh in a series of cute Eri one shots.


Aizawa was no stranger to paperwork. The process of going through the sometimes endless amount of documents that needed to be signed, marked for errors, copied and sent to various people so theycould sign, mark for errors and copy and send to other people and so on was a curse he had to deal with on a daily basis for many years now, first when he started working as a professional hero, and again as he added "teacher" to his long resume.

He had to fill out situation reports, damage costs, and budget requests, as well as go through essays and grade tests and home work from dozens of people over the years, and he did it with the detached professionalism that that kind of work required.

So why was one line in a personal file giving him this much trouble?

Well, because he couldn't detach himself here, couldn't think in terms of pure numbers and figures, couldn't boil everything he needed to write down into simple terms, Shouta "Eraserhead" Aizawa was doing the same mistake he has been finding himself doing since he began teaching the newest version of class 1-A of year one in UA academy.

He got attached, made it personal, and now he was in the middle of an intense internal moral debate over what to put in the "family name" field of Eri's personal file.

"What a headache…" He muttered out loud as he put his pen down, rubbing his forehead with both hands while he leaned his elbows on the table in the empty teacher's lounge he had sat next to about an hour ago, getting his paperwork done when this one file was all that he had to do before his work for the day was done.

The problem wasn't that he didn't know what her family name was, using the information he got from Chronostasis while he was captured, about Eri's history and how she came under Chisaki's wing, so to speak, and the old man that was found in the base hooked up to a life support machine made it very easy to put two and two together.

No, the problem was if he used that name for her, it would no doubt cause the girl no end of trouble down the line. Having a connection to a leader of Yakuza group, especially one that made such an impact, and that many connections, would serve only to complicate her life further and give her more hardships to deal with.

The girl was half the age of his students, and has already suffered more than her fair share, he was not going to make her suffer through anymore if he could help it.

But, that sudden moral obligation left him without any real option of what to give her as a last name, and if he left any field on this paper empty, others would either walk right back to him with it or force him to write the obvious answer down, or fill it in themselves with significantly less sympathy.

So, he had to put something else, anything else, in that field, but again, he had to be careful about that as well. Putting in any random name would either sever any rights UA might have to keep her safe once she's out of the woods and the whole mess over the precepts died down (and just thinking of the mess that would cause in his class is giving him a migraine), or would put her in harm's way if, by some impossible stupid chance, it was the family name of someone with ill intentions.

He tapped his fingers on the table surface, glaring down at the page as if it would surrender the perfect answer to this mess, trying to hash out something to would, at the very least, cause the girl the least amount of grief.

"What a damn joke," He muttered bitterly, Family names should be a point of pride shouldn't they? And here's a girl with either none to speak of, or ones that would bring her nothing but trouble," He rubbed his eyes tiredly, "Might as give her my-"

He stopped.

He took his hands away from his eyes to look at the file one more time, going over the various details he'd had to fill out about her, height, weight and blood type, and the one small picture he was able to convince her to take stapled to the upper right corner of the file.

She was wearing a long sleeved shirt with a brightly grinning sun on the front, while she herself was smiling much more timidly, most of her white hair combed and brushed and tied in a single braid by Ashido and Hagakure, with a No. 13 hairpin stuck, given to her by Uraraka, on the side of her bangs lifting them over her eyes. Her arms were clasped behind her back nervously, but she was staring right at the camera, ruby eyes shining.

He stared at the picture with a blank stare, as he did when the girls presented it to him when he had asked for one. He held it by one of its lower corners, rubbing his fingers where he held it idly as he considered it.

"Aizawa Eri," He muttered under his breath, feeling out the sound of it on his tongue, making one corner of his mouth twitch up less than half an inch, "The name of a pro hero….might gain her some allies…" A few more things crossed his mind for a moment, of course, but as always the practical and pragmatic benefits that floated up before anything else…as did the negatives, "….And enemies."

Eraserhead was not a name that would make many average citizens widen their eyes in recognition, and that was by design, since he was a teenager he found the glorified popularity contest that was the hero rankings distasteful, and so he does his work in the shadows, when most honest working folk sleep.

On the other hand, many criminals and outlaws would clench their fists and grind their teeth at the mention of his hero name, it was a point of pride for Aizawa that he had managed to make a nuisance of himself to anyone who thought themselves worthy of the titles "villain."

He was a veteran in the field, and one of the best in the business, and more than once did he have to suffer the odd ambush in his daily life, and he handled himself as well as his position demanded of him.

But, a little girl? Alone during school or with friends? Who had already gone through the wringer?

He let go of the picture, shaking his head. No need to burden her with that….his apartment would have been too small anyway.

But of course, this left him back in square one, but before he could bang his head on the table to get his thoughts in order, into the room crashed the one person that never failed to make a mess of them.

"Ey yo ERASER!" Present Mic shouted as the door he flung open crashed in the wall next to him, making his fellow teacher flinch and his eyes twitch, "What are you doing here man!? You and I were supposed to be out drinking by now!"

Rubbing his eyes while taking a very deep breath, as well as reminding himself that this headache in the shape of a man was his coworker and friend and hitting him is not the proper reaction to him yelling (Nedzu's words and not his, obviously), Aizawa turned to him, "Almost done Mic, I just need to finish this one last paper."

Yes, just this one paper, just this one paper that he can't help but think of what kind of impact it will have on the life of the little girl who has found herself under the protection of his school and his students, mostly for the fact that she has literally no one else in her life to take care of her.

Easy.

"One paper!? That's what's been holding you back here all this time!?" He yelled out some more, stomping over to his coworker to peer over his shoulder…or rather shove his head next to his to see what this paper is all about, "What could it-" He stopped, his mouth closing as he saw what it was that Aizawa was working on, "Oh, It's about Eri-chan." His voice softened considerably, the way it always did when he discussed things that actually mattered to him, getting out of Aizawa's space, the latter glaring at him lightly before he returned to glaring at the file instead, Mic scratched the back of his head, "Need help?"

Aizawa shook his head, "No, just need to fill out one more thing," He pointed to the still empty, "Family name" field on the paper, tapping on the vacant line after, "And it's proving harder than I thought…"

Yamada raised his brow at him, "Don't we know Eri-chan's last name though?"

"Yes, that's part of the problem."

"Wha-Oh, oh yeah."

The two looked down at the paper together, both completely silent as they considered what to put there, Yamada slowly catching up on all the options Aizawa has thought of already.

"Can't give her a random name…"

"Too unpredictable."

"Can't give her actual name…"

"Very much predictable."

Mic stopped, looking at Aizawa directly, his mouth turning up as what he considered to be an amazing idea popped into his head.

"Can't use mine either," Aizawa snapped, knowing what he was thinking just by looking at him, "The last thing she needs is a connection to any kind of….reputation."

Mic dropped his smile, sighing, "Can't use mine either then…"

The quiet stretched out for a few more minutes, the two men glaring down at the paper hoping it would sort itself out, before a chuckle escaped Present Mic as a thought occurred to him.

"Something funny Yamada?" Aizawa snapped, not even slightly in the mood for any of his friend's nonsense.

Mic shook his head as he just kept chuckling, ignoring Aizawa's tired menace, "Nah Eraser, I just remembered something and it gave me an idea." He looked at him and grinning a cheeky little smile at Aizawa, "How about we make her a Midoriya?"

Aizawa's gut reaction was to hit Mic on the back of the head and question his sanity, but a split second after he stopped, mulling the thought over as he considered how the girl acted around his class….specifically around Midoriya and Uraraka.

"I mean," Mic continued, seeing that Aizawa was starting on the same track of thought as he as, "She already calls him papa…why not make it official?"

Aizawa scratched his chin, the idea rolling in his head a bit more….he reached for a pencil, and carefully scratched down the character for 'green'.

* * *

Midoriya looked up at his teacher in shook, before looking back down on the paper in his hands, especially at a very specific name written on it, before again looking at his teacher and repeating a few more times, the situation not quite sinking in just yet.

"It's just an idea," Aizawa said, with a placating hand gesture, to little effect, "But as I've explained, it's more or less the best idea I could think of."

The boy gulped, putting down the paper and pulling on his lower lip as he thought deeply on it, pragmatic reason at once clashing and in cahoots with his personal feelings, "What if someone looks into it?"

"I've talked to your mother," He said, smirking as he thought back to the rather…emotional conversation he's had with Inko Midoriya last night, "And after I'd explained the circumstances to her, she admitted that she'd always wanted a daughter as well."

Izuku blinked, blushing a little as the matter became clearer to him, looking down at the paper again, looking between the picture Uraraka and the rest of the girls took of Eri…and his last name next to hers, "…It's her decision." He said finally, sighing as one corner of his mouth twitched up, "We can't force her."

Aizawa smirked at his student while shaking his head, wondering how someone could be that dense, "I don't think we'll have too."

* * *

Eri stared wide eyed at Izuku, the paper in her hand shaking in her grip, "Is-is this real?"

He smiled gently at her, putting a warm hand on her shoulder, "Only if you want it to be."

She looked between the paper and Izuku a few times, her eyes growing wetter as she did, before she dropped it in favor of flinging her arms around his neck as she wept openly, squeezing as hard as she could as he wrapped his arms around her in return rubbing calming circles on her back.

At their feet the file floated down gently until it touched the ground, the two far too busy hugging and crying to notice it.

(The very next morning, Present Mic had several announcements regarding recent events, included among them a reminder for students to change into their summer uniforms next week, the planned menu for the cafeteria that day…and a message to Midoriya Eri to remember come pick up her jacket from the teachers' lounge, before he decided he liked it too much to give it back and take it for himself.

As she rushed out of the common room to retrieve her jacket, all eyes were on Midoriya as he rubbed the back of his head, "It's uhh…it's a long story."

As the rest of the students rushed him with question, Uraraka stayed behind the implications of all of this rushing through her head.

To her horror, the idea didn't seem too bad.)


End file.
